J t yi E H A L F 



1 5 C) :2: 




'-'BRAitV OF 



CONGRESS 



°°°ifi3iSSb7 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

UNITED STATES OF A^.1ERICA. 
Chap. iiMCU',.f<^/ 

PRESENTED BY 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



EUGENE HALE. 

RtPREStNTA I IVF, AND SENATOR FROM 
THE STATE OF MAINE, 



DELIVKRED IN 



THE HOUSH OF REPRHSENTATIVHS AND 

IN THH UNITED STATES SENATE, 



\%C) to 18C)2. 



WASHINGTON : 

GOVERNMENT I'KINTING OFFICE. 

IS97. 



^'^^^ 



\< 



%^ 



2' :. 



WILLIAM PITT FHSSHNDKN. 



In tUc House of RcprcscnCativL's, Dtccnihcr 14, iSOt), 



Mr. Speaker: I speak as a young mau who 
admired and revered William Pitt Fessen- 
DEX. Twelve years ago, when I cast m\ first 
\-ote, he was an honored Senator from the State 
of Maine. In that State his life had been 
passed, and his education and experience had 
been such as to emincntlv fit him for the high 
place which he then filled. 

He was a "radnate of our oldest coUeye, had 
chosen the profession of law, been admitted to 
practice at an early age and for many ^-ears had 
given to it his best talent, which had carried him 
to the head of the profession in his State. 

His professional life was always marked by 
the highest sense of honor, by a keen sympathy 
for the poor or oppressed suitor, and by a plainly 

3 



shown impatience at that public clamor which 
now and then usurps the place of public justice 
and demands a victim without much heed as to 
the question of guilt or innocence. His single 
term in this House, and his longer service in our 
State legislature, had prevented his mind from 
running in a purely legal channel, and he stood, 
b}' natural ability and varied training, the peer 
of his fellows in the United States Senate. 

Since that time his public life has been open 
to the view of all, and in common with, I sup- 
pose, a large majoritv of men who have watched 
it, I have learned the lesson of respect for its 
excellence. Within the last few years I have 
enjoyed the privilege of his close acquaintance 
and friendship, and can bear testimony to the 
kindness of heart and graciousness of manner 
which made him, to those who knew him best, 
the good friend and fascinating companion. I 
hope to carry through my life a green memory 
of the good counsel and help that he always 
generously gave me. 

Of his career as a public man it is not fitting 
that I should attempt to speak. It was open to 



5 

inspection from its beginning- to its close, and 
like the broad river which gains ne-w volume 
with every affluent, it increased in its force with 
each year until at last it ended in that vast sea 
whither all human life flows. Others who have 
been intimately associated witli him in the im- 
portant legislation of the last fifteen years, and 
who can more clearly point out the guiding and 
restraining influence of his mind upon that 
legislation, have spoken in language of full 
appreciation. 

But I can not fail to render my tribute of 
admiration for the inflexible spirit of indepen- 
dence that he alwavs displayed in maintaining 
what he belie\-ed to be right, refusing to be 
swayed by popular outcry or the fear of party 
displeasure. And this, joined with the absence 
of any overweening desire to enforce views 
simply as his own views, thus preventing him 
from becoming an "impracticable" in politics, 
made him what seems to me as the nearly com- 
plete pattern of an American legislator. 

His steadfastness in adhering to a given 
course when both wind and tide were against 



him was shown most conspicuously in the im- 
peacliment trial. But I have studied his life 
before that event closely enoiigh to see that anj-- 
one well knowing him need not take that in- 
stance into the account in concluding that Mr. 
FessENDEN would not be turned from the way 
he believed to be the right wa\' bv fear of im- 
mediate unpopularity. No tempest of voices 
ever dictated to him who should be released to 
the people and who should be crucified. 

But he who believes that his firmness came 
from a defiant and unsvuipathetic spirit I think 
wholly wrong. 

Mr. Fessenden understood fully and talked 
freely with his friends of the burdens and 
restraints imposed by a political life, and he 
always strove to so bear himself that no re- 
proach of neglected dtitj^ could be laid at his 
door, and that his acts and his motives should 
not be cheapened by the inducements that beset 
the politician. He has portrayed all this in his 
eulogy upon the Honorable Solomon Foot, a 
Senator from Vermont, who died in iS66, and 
whom he respected and loved. 



7 

From his place in the Senate Chamber he 

then said: 

"When, Mr. President, a man, however emi- 
nent in other pnrsnits and whatever claims he 
may ha\-e to public confidence, becomes a mem- 
ber of this body, he has ninch to learn and much 
to endure. Little does he know of what he will 
have to encounter. He may be well read in pub- 
lic affairs, but he is unaware of the difftculties 
which must attend and embarrass every effort to 
render what he may know a^■ailable and useful. 
He may be upright in purpose and strong in the 
belief of his own integrity-, but he can not even 
dream of the ordeal to which he can not fail to 
be exposed; of how nnich courage he must pos- 
sess to resist the temptations which daily l)eset 
him; of that sensitive shrinking from unde- 
served censure which he must learn to control ; 
of the ever-recurring contest between a natural 
desire for public approbation and a sense of pub- 
lic duty; of the load of injustice he must be con- 
tent to bear even from those who should be his 
friends; the imputations on his motives; the 
sneers and sarcasms of ignorance and malice; 



8 

all the manifold injuries which partisan or pri- 
vate nialignit}- disappointed of its object may 
shower upon his unprotected head. All this, 
if he would retain his integrity, he must learn 
to bear unmoved and walk steadily onward in 
the path of public duty, sustained onl}' b}- the 
rei^ection that time may do him justice; or, if 
not, that his individual hopes and aspirations 
and even his name among men should be of lit- 
tle account to him when weighed in the balance 
against the welfare of a people of whose destiny 
he is a constituted guardian and defender." 

As I read these words the form of the dead 
statesman rises before me ; I behold him in his 
place in the Senate Chamber presenting the 
matured result of his thought and investiga- 
tion, or casting his vote uninfluenced by any 
consideration whether he was for the time in 
the majority or minorit}-; or again I listen to 
his ^■oice, when, besieged h\ importunate sup- 
plicants for political influence or political place, 
his stern rebuke broke down the brazen front 
of the man who sought to put his own advance- 
ment higher than the good of the public sen-- 



9 

vice; and when I interpret this loftiness by the 
light of the words which he uttered at the grave 
. of the friend whom he loved, I know that he was 
not jnst because his natnre was cold and that 
he did not hate deniagognes because he had no 
sympathy with the people, bnt that his ideal of 
the Senator was so high and he so loyally strove 
to reach it that his course carried him over all 
the pain and heart-sickness which he often felt 
when the people mnrmnred and friends grew 
estranged. 

But he went in quest of no popularitv that 
had to be bought by timeserving, and never 
kept himself before the people by eccentric 
courses and dangerous experiments in legisla- 
tion. It was not of such as he that Dryden 
wrote — . 

A daring pilot in extremity; 

Pleas'd with the danger, when the waves went hisjh 
He sought the storms, but for a calm unfit 
Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. 

He had no such ambition for leadership that 
for its sake he would bring the Republic nigh 
to final shipwreck. 



lO 

Mr. Speaker, our own State mourns an hon- 
ored son and. the nation has lost a tried and 
faithful public servant. Those who have for 
years taken part in our National Government 
will miss the leader who was yet the comrade 
in this, that he took upon himself his full share 
of the burden and work of the day. 

But to the young men who are just entering 
public life the deprivation is even greater. 
That life, with its temptations and seducements, 
is all before us. There are tricks and shams 
and intimidations that are set as pitfalls in oiir 
paths. With much that is noble and inspiring 
about us, there are manifold inclinations to sloth, 
to fickleness, and it may be to corruption. 
Who can tell whether he has not alread_y set 
his feet in the way that leads down to moral 
death ? 

We need the tones of that voice which never 
directed the coward's retreat, the splendid calm 
of that clear face which kept its serenity when 
the battle around liim was at its thickest; we 
need the actual sight of and association with him 
and all such as he was, who by example and 



II 



precept elevate our aims, establish tmr character, 
and make us truly public servants for 'the 
public good. And for him who, connected with 
public affairs, seeks to build up an honorable 
reputation, what better course can be given than 
to emulate the steadfastness, the sobrietv, the 
justice of William Pitt Fessenden? 



SAMUEL F. HERSEY. 



In the Holl^c of Kcpresentatives, Ft-bruary 20, 1S75. 



Mr. Speaker: We are but five in this House 
from the State of Maine when all are present, 
and one of our number has been taken away by 
death. Hon. SA^irEL FrEEM.\n Hersev, who 
represented the Fourth district of Maine in this 
Congress, died at his home in Bangor on the 
third day of this month. The fatal disease that 
at last ended in death fastened upon him many 
months ago and broke down the physical strength 
which had been marked in his previous life. It 
interfered seriously with his duties in the last 
session of this Congress, driving him from the 
Capitol in the late winter months after he had 
resolutely fought its approaches, turned his home 
durnig the summer and fall into a house of 
sickness, and inexorably forbade any attempt 



to share in the labors and duties of the present 
session. 

The resolute will of my late colleague and 
friend was so noticeable a feature in his char- 
acter that I shall be well borne out by those 
who knew him best in saying that nothing less 
than the painful disease under which he suffered 
could have kept him away from the post to 
which a trusting people had called him. As I 
remember him and recall an acquaintance of 
many years, there arises before me no instance 
when he shrank from a duty laid upon him. 

General Hersey was born in Sumner, in the 
county of Oxford and State of Maine, on the 
22d of April, 1812. He came from Revolution- 
ary stock, his maternal grandfather having 
been an ofificer in the war for independence; 
and he was reared in that best school for early 
boyhood which the New England fireside, hill- 
side, and schoolhouse furnish. \\'hen at the 
age of 21 he entered upon mercantile business 
for himself, he had secured the good education 
that the district school and the county academy 
afforded, and was well fitted to enter into the 



15 

conflict of active life. In business he almost 
always prospered, increasing his ventures and 
his gains from year to year, and latterly extend- 
ing his operations into ]\Iinnesota, Wiscon- 
sin, and other Northwestern States. He was 
prompt and energetic in affairs, honest and con- 
scientious in his dealings, and, as his fortune 
increased, gave liberallj- of his store. 

He was always trusted by the people among 
whom he lived, representing the town of Mil- 
ford in the lower house of the Maine legislature 
in 1S42, and the city of Bangor, to which he 
afterward renio\-ed, in one branch or the other 
of the State legislature in 1S57, 1865, 1867, and 
1869, besides serving for some years as a mem- 
ber of the executive council. 

After filling other important State offices, he 
was first elected to this House in September, 
1S72, and was reelected in 1874. From partici- 
pation in what promised to be the stirring scenes 
of the Forty-fourth Congress he has been cut oft". 
Had he lived, his position must always have 
been clearly defined. His was never a haltine 
or doubtful course. His religious and political 



i6 

beliefs were a part of his life; and he accepted 
the consequences of those beliefs boldly. 

This positiveness of character led him not to 
fear antagonism ; but his kindness of heart raised 
up friends and prevented lifelong enmities. 

Mr. Speaker, our deceased colleague will be 
greatly missed in our own State, where he has 
been for years a prominent citizen. To his 
neighbors and friends the loss will come nearer; 
to his family it can never be repaired. On this 
floor those who knew him during the brief 
weeks that he was in attendance know that 
this House has lost an honest, useful member. 

But awful as is the coming of death, and 
sobering as must be its contemplation, the way 
along: which a human life is sometimes led to it 
is so beset with suffering and agony that to our 
limited vision the final summons must then 
seem more like a relief than a doom. 

General Hersey's disease was severe and 
protracted. It never broke down his mind or 
his spirit, but it wasted his body and racked 
him with pain such as few men, fortunately, 
are ever called to endure. It was incurable, 



17 

and at last he sank under it. But he died in 
his own house, with his wife and children about 
him, and loving hands smoothed his winter 
shroud. Thinking of how vexed had been his 
last days and how peaceful was his death, who 
will not ask with vSpenser — 

Is not short pain well Ijorne that brings long ease 
And lays the .soul to rest in quiet grave ? 
Sleep after toil, port after .stormy seas, 
Peace after war, death after life doth .sometimes greatly 
please. 

Mr. vSpeaker, I move the following resolu- 
tions : 

Rcsolz'cd, That this House has heard with 
deep regret the death of Hon. Samuel F. Her- 
SEV, a member of this House from the vState of 
Maine. 

Rcsoli'cd, That as a testimonial of respect to 
the memory of the deceased the officers and 
members of this House will wear the usual 
badge of mourning for the space of thirt\- davs. 

R('st>/i'f(/, That a copy of these resolutions be 
transmitted by the Clerk to the faniih- of the 
deceased. 



HENRY H. STARKWFATHHR. 



In Che House of Representatives.. February za. iK;^. 

Mr. SpeakKr: From the day when I first 
entered this House, seven years ago, the de- 
ceased member and I have been thrown much 
together. We both served upon the Committee 
on Naval Affairs in the Forty-first Congress, 
and during all the arduous labors of the Com- 
mittee on Appropriations for the Forty-third 
Congress we sat at the same table, engaged in 
the same work. Still later (and this recollec- 
tion summons his face before me in clear relief) 
he .sat next on my right in the chair which is 
to-day vacant ; and so it came about that I knew 
him well — were it not for that fine reserve which 
was a feature of his character, I should say 
intimately. 

Like other gentlemen who have served with 
him on committees, I learned to value Mr. 

"9 



20 



Starkweather for the faithful sen-ices that 
he brought to every duty laid upon him and 
for the clear judgment that he displayed in 
oftentimes conilicting national, sectional, and 
political interests. Through it all he was hon- 
est and earnest of purpose; and though by no 
means an aggressive man in temper, he was 
effective and spirited in maintaining his views, 
and if ever assailed in any manner reflecting 
on the consistency of his political course, he 
always showed that he was amply capable of 
taking care of himself. 

He has left this presence where not a few 
still remain who have served with him, and 
among them all I venture to say there is not 
one who does not feel that he was honest, capa- 
ble, and faithful. 

His constituents appreciated this high char- 
acter, and manifested their appreciation by re- 
peated returns. It is no common thing, either 
in Connecticut or in any State, for a member of 
this House to be returned here at five successive 
elections. Few higher honors ever fall upon 
an American citizen. From some acquaintance 



31 

with his constituents I have been impressed 
with the belief that their confidence in him lias 
been for ten years a growing and not a waning 
sentiment. 

Like man}' of our public men, Mr. STARK- 
WEATHER ga\-e his best years to the service of 
his country, and died a poor man ; but he has 
left to his dear wife and children that precious 
legacy, a good name and the memory of a well- 
spent life. 

Upon this floor we have all seen him, atten- 
tive and watchful ; in the committee rooms of 
this Capitol, where is molded the legislation of 
forty millions of people, some of us haxe sat b}' 
him, and have been benefited by his coun.sels. 

The years of his public service have come 
and have gone. They failed not with him, as 
they fail not with most of us, to deepen the 
unseen burdens of mortality and to sap the 
strength with which we resist the common decay. 
But out of it all Mr. vStarkweather brought 
none or little of the accumulations for which 
many men in other walks barter health, honor, 
and life. 



22 

He was content to do well liis duty, and the 
recollection of his patient life and the ■ protec- 
tion of a kind Creator and Father will; I know, 
raise up friends for those who were dependent 
upon him and who are well-nigh heartbroken 
at his loss. 

Listening the other day to the deep and 
fervent words which he had written for an 
occasion like this, in memory of his deceased 
friend, the late Senator from Connecticut, in 
which in rapt language he prefigured the soul's 
relation to the illimitable future and also look- 
ing back, as I now do, to the incidents and 
observations of everyday life, which are apt 
to elude us until after our friends are taken 
from us, I am impressed with the belief that 
Mr. Starkweather carried with him, as a 
constant presence, the conviction that death 
might at any time come to him. He was never, 
or at least not for years, what might be called 
a well man. Lassitude, weakness, illness, all 
conspired to drag him down. Against these 
he always made an uncomplaining and manly 
resistance, and notwithstanding them wrought 



2 3 

out a life of useful deeds such as few meu cau 
ever compass. 

But, Mr. Speaker, what struggles aud mis- 
givings the watches of the night, could they be 
laid bare, might show to us we can never know. 
There are no such heroic combats as these silent, 
solitary ones with the relentless foe that at last 
occupies all human fields. The ordinary con- 
flicts of human life sink into littleness beside 
them. To know that the destroyer has made 
his lodgment, and that whatsoever may be the 
tic that binds us to life — the allurements to 
public station, the charm of love and friendship, 
the laughter and confidence of little children — 
he will yet give us but little notice, is what, 
with most men, breaks down courage and pal- 
sies every effort. Thinking of such a conflict, 
and believing as I do that our friend waged it, 
I recall the words of Thackeray upon another 
of life's lost battles: 

The thought of it smites me down in humble 
submission before the Ruler of Kings and Men, 
the Monarch Supreme, the Inscrutable Dis- 
penser of life, death, happiness, victory. 



24 

He who left lis was no recreant here. He 
succumbed onl}* when the hand could be no 
more upraised and the asserting will failed for- 
ever. But he has left with us the memory of 
the cheerful companion, the good friend, the 
honest, faithful public servant. 



AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE. 



la tlie Senate of the United States. January ^3, 1SS2. 



]Mr. President: It would not be fitting for 
me in the little time which I shall take to 
attempt to speak of the public life and sen-ices 
of General BuRNSiDE. I could add nothing 
to Senator Anthony's portrayal. 

But since General Burxside came into the 
Senate it has been my good fortune to know 
him well and to see much of him, and I desire 
to say a few words in token of the regard which 
I felt for him living and the tender memory 
which I bear for him now that he is gone. 

That memory recalls him as a man who out 
of years of activity and sometimes of awful con- 
flict brought a nature of exceeding purity and 
sweetness. 

His education was a military one. In his 



26 

youth he took part in the war which the Re- 
public waged against Mexico. 

His active participation in our last and 
greatest of wars is a part of the histor}^ of the 
countr}'. 

He was brought face to face with suffering 
and pain and death, and must have learned to 
look upon these as everyday incidents. He 
beheld as a near spectator the most tremendous 
European conflict of the century. But war 
never roughened nor hardened him. 

Some of us who never knew him until the 
long ease which peace brings after war had set 
in found him intrepid and fearless, it is true, 
as Bunyan's Greatheart, but magnanimous, 
gentle, and tender as the blameless king, the 
head of the Round Table. Nor did changed 
fortune or hard fate have power to warp his 
spirit. 

In the great war of the rebellion he com- 
manded our first happy and successful expedi- 
tion, and later his name was associated with an 
army corps whose fortunes he led, sometimes to 
the heights of victory, sometimes into the sad 



27 

valley of defeat. His coininand of our greatest 
army was not fortunate, aud the fact that it was 
imposed on him with no willing consent on his 
part, and that events compelled him to lay it 
down after a great disaster, might have embit- 
tered a less generous nature. 

In General Burnside's heart no room was 
ever found for bitterness or jealousy or envy. 
"An unexhausted kindliness glowed like daily 
sunrise there." 

Side by side with this softer part of character 
his strength of spirit always asserted itself, and 
made him the most manly and fearless of men. 

Time and again I have seen him endure a 
test more to be dreaded by a sensitive nature 
than the facing of armed men or the fire of 
converging batteries — the standing alone and 
maintaining the cause of an absent and unpop- 
ular friend when clamorous voices told him too 
plainly how absolutely he was alone. 

On such a field General BfRXSiDK would not 
even draw ofT into the refuge of silence. 

He was a friend worth ha\-ing, and it will be 
long before men will cease to sigh or women 



28 

to weep because they go their ways withoiit 
him. 

Standing here in the place which he left va- 
cant, I realize how much better we should be 
if he were still a moving, living form among us, 
how great was our loss in his removal. 



RICHARD W. TOWNSHEND. 



In the Senate of the Inited States. March 14. iS()o. 



Mr. President: IVIy acquaintance with Mr. 
TowNSHEND began with the Forty-fiftli Con- 
gress, in the House of Representatives, of whicli 
he and I were then members. 

He was new in service and j-oung in years 
for the House, but he soon attracted my atten- 
tion, as he did that of other old members ; and he 
immediately made friends tliere, who afterwards 
watched with satisfaction liis constant increase 
in power and influence in that body. 

His mental and physical organization was 

such that, while he was usually clear and direct 

and persistent in his coiirse upon subjects where 

he took special interest in legislation, his nature 

was so affectionate and his ways were so pleasant 

that all who were associated with him felt an 

interest in his success. 

29 



3° 

He had both boldness and ambition, and these 
pushed him on ; but he constantly increased in 
mental stature, and whenever I met him I was 
impressed with the growth in the reach of his 
mind. 

His industry was so patent that all who have 
spoken of him have made mention of it; and 
in the great work which the House of Repre- 
sentatives performs he bore a more and more 
conspicuous part. His service upon important 
committees there shows the estimation in which 
he was held, and the people whom he served 
attested their confidence in him by giving him 
what few men have ever had in this country — 
seven successive elections. 

I can well believe that sadness pervaded his 
district, Mr. President, when the people heard of 
their great loss and knew that the man who had 
so faithfully and ably represented them had been 
cut down in his prime. 

To all appearances, one month before his death 
Mr. ToWNSHEND might count upon a most envi- 
able future piiblic life. He had an admiring, 
unquestioning constituency. He had laid broad 



31 
and deep the foundations for wide influence in 
Congress. He was a man of the people and 
trusted by the people. He had filled his mind 
with special knowledge derived from a close 
study of social, economic, and financial questions, 
and had broadened it by wide general reading. 
To the ordinary view, few men had better prom- 
ise of a far-reaching political career, crowned 
with the Republic's higher honors; but no man, 
Mr. President, with whatever "eagle eyes" he 
may "stare" at the ocean of the future, can tell 
when his voyage there may be interrupted. He 
of whom we speak to-day was suddenly snatched 
from his high vantage ground, and in what we 
call his untimely eclipse went out whatever 
there might have been for him otherwise of 
honor or glory to come. "He only heard 
Fame's thunders wake." 

His friends love to think of him and his 
genial ways and kindly deeds. Those nearest 
and dearest to him will never lose the sad pleas- 
ure which comes from the recollection of scenes 
brightened by love. 

All of us who met him here in public or pri- 



32 

\ate life, especially the members, of that great 
body where he took so active a part, will miss 
him long, and long regret him. During the 
fourteen years over which my acquaintance 
\\ith Mr. TowNSHEND extended every incident 
of our intercourse has left with me nothing but 
pleasant memories, and my brief tribute to his 
merit is most sincerely given. 



JAMES B. BECK. 



Id tho Senate wf the United States, August 23. iS«}o. 



Mr. President: The life of the kite Senator 
from Kentuck}- has been so well portrayed here, 
and his character has been so finely delineated, 
that there is no need for me to dwell npon them, 
and I shall content myself with a very brief, 
nnaffected tribnte to a man who always com- 
manded my respect and had "gained my personal 
regard and affection. 

I first knew ^Ir. Beck dnring his service and 
mine in the Honse of Representatives, where 
he was then a most prominent actor on his side 
of the Chamber, and where he manifested the 
same earnestness and vigor which afterwards 
marked his life here. That acqnaintance, I am 
glad to say, ripened into a friendship, when I 
came into the Senate, the memory of which I 
3 33 



34 

shall always carefull}' and fondly cherish. I do 
not, in going back over these years, bring np a 
single incident of onr acquaintance which does 
not carr}' with it the most pleasing of recollec- 
tions. 

During all the time that I have been a mem- 
ber of this body up to the day of the death 
of Senator Beck he and I had what is known 
in the Senate as a "general pair," and it was 
characteristic of the frank and generous way 
which he had of doing things that wheir the 
agreement was made between us he said, "Let 
either of us vote whenever he has a mind to," 
and during all these years this relation, so 
necessary in the business of the Senate both to 
the body and to the individual, never rested as 
a burden upon either of us ; neither ever ques- 
tioned the vote of the other. 

The State of Kentucky has sent very many 
able men into public life. These men have 
made her illustrious in war and peace. Some of 
them have been sons of her soil, who were there 
born and lived and died, and others have be- 
taken themselves to the State and have made it 



35 
their own and have helped to produce tlic Ken- 
tucky of the past and the Kentucky of to-day. 
But, IMr. President, among all these that State 
has never found a truer, aliler, and more faithful 
and efficient representative in public life than 
this large-minded, hardheaded, genial-natured 
Scotchman, who came an untried lad out from 
the fields of old Dumfriesshire, and going to 
Kentucky fought out his manly battle there for 
preferment against all rivals in the State that 
he had adopted and made his home. 

From this training at home he came a well- 
prepared man into Congress. His mind was 
wide and large. Strong as he was npun the 
special subjects to which he de\-oted great atten- 
tion, he went far beyond these, and I have known 
few Senators who were better up in what may 
be called the business of the Senate than was 
]Mr. Beck. His memory was retentive. His 
habit was formed upon the models of extreme 
industry, and I think he was as well equipped 
for general debate upon the subjects arising 
here as any Senator whom I ha\-e known in my 
service. 



36 

All these things, Mr. President, we nionni 
and miss ; we miss the rugged earnestness of the 
Senator from Kentuck\'; we miss his aggres- 
sive self-assertion; we miss his sharp retort; 
we miss his red-handed foray into the territory 
of every political foe; but missing them and 
mourning them, we wish that he were here 
to-day! We miss his genial nature, his wide, 
broad, embracing friendship. We miss those 
occasions when, work and business laid aside, 
we met him at one place or another when the 
hour was devoted to enjoyment, and where our 
dear, lost friend was at his best, and then, Mr. 
President, we know the aching void which 
nothing can fill. 

When JamEvS B. Beck left us, Mr. President, 
we lost an able Senator, a true, high-minded 
man, a character of loft}- integrity, a good 
friend, the memory of whom time ma}- possibly 
dim, but certainly, with me, can never efface. 



ADMIRAL DAVID DIXON PORTER. 



In tlu- Senate nf tlu- United States, February i,i, i8ql 



Mr. President: All the history of the Eng- 
Hsh-.speaking people has been illustrated by 
the exploits of great commanders who have 
fought upon the seas. In the annals of Great 
Britain there ha\-e been no names which have 
awakened popular enthusiasm like those of the 
naval chieftains who fought England's battles 
against her foes upon the great deep. It is 
doubtful whether the Eno-land of the eieht- 
eenth and nineteenth centuries was ever elec- 
trified b}- the deeds of anv of her high com- 
manders — Wellington, the highest of all, upon 
the land — as she was bv the victories of Nelson ; 
and the names of her admirals are set high 
in her lists of glory — Nelson himself and Jervis 
and Rodney and Collingwood 



37 



38 

Mr. Plxtmr. And Drake. 

Mr. Halk. Not to go back to that period which 
is suggested b}' the Senator from Kansas — the 
times of Drake and Grenville and Hawkins, who 
won the greatest of sea fights with little ships 
not larger than the coasting schooners of to-day. 

This pride in the Navy and this interest in 
conflicts fought upon the waters was brought to 
America by our ancestors, and our people have 
shown it in every crisis when war has come upon 
our horizon. It was so in the American Revo- 
lution. It was so emphatically in 1812 in the 
war with Great Britain. 

The pictures covering the first half of the 
present century that will be found in the 
houses of the American people of the command- 
ers who in war have maintained the flag show- 
to us the faces of Perr^- and ]\Iacdonough and 
Hull and Bainbridge and Decatur and the elder 
Porter, and in that tremendous conflict which 
raged in this country covering the 3'ears of 
what we call the civil war, while the commands 
of the naval officers were small as compared 
with those of tlie generals who fought upon the 



39 

land, vet every American heart beats responsive 
to the glorions deeds performed in our Na\-y 
under the great captains who led it. 

Mr. President, thev are now nearl}- all gone — 
Farragut, Du Pont, Rowan, Foote, Dahlgren, 
Winslow, and others, not to name those who 
are living. Among these men Admiral PoRTKR 
ranked as of the highest. No difficultv ever 
appalled him; no consultation in which PoRTKR 
was engaged ever had but one result, and that 
was to fight a battle. His resources were amaz- 
ing; his courage was of the very highest order, 
and where he led \-ictorv followed. 

I think, Air. President, that Admiral PoRTER 
was almost the onh- survivor of those who held 
independent commands during the war upon 
the sea. Rear Admiral Worden being the only 
other who comes now to m\ mind. We have 
not seen the Admiral much of late, but those 
of us who knew him well in the years past 
never failed to be impressed by him. We shall 
miss that alert, earnest, communicative pres- 
ence; we shall miss the reminiscent faculty 
which Admiral PoRTKR to a great extent po.s- 



40 

sessed, and, missing him and calling np his 
well-earned fame, we can wish that the glory 
which was his may be emulated and won by 
worthy successors in the American Navy. 

Mr. President, in token of our appreciation of 
the character of him who has gone, of the loss 
which the country has sustained, and of our 
deep S3anpathy with those who are nearest and 
most bereaved, I move that the Senate do now 
adjourn. 



PRESTON B. PLUMB. 



In tUc Sfnatc of the United States, February i». iHitz. 



Mr. President: After all that has been so 
well said, I can only speak of the late Senator 
from Kansas as we saw him here. When he 
died this body lost one of its ablest members. 
Wherever Mr. Plumb was he made himself felt, 
and this floor afforded a fitting arena for the 
display of his great abilities. Few important 
measnres in the past fifteen years have become 
laws without the help of his forming hand. 
Few schemes of doubtful wisdom have gone to 
their grave without being assisted thereto by 
him. His activity and energy were immense, 
and his investigation and reflection covered the 
widest range of subjects. His ser^•ice upon 
important committees was so faithful that when- 
ever a meeting was called it found him present, 
prepared and ready for work. He made this 



41 



42 

his business, and if he had doubts to raise and 
objections to urge these were first brought for- 
ward in the committee room. He was in this 
respect an example whom we will do well to 
follow. 

On this floor he never championed a measure 
without first studying it from all sides, and no 
man here could maintain his cause better than 
Mr. Plumb. He was by nature aggressiA-e, and 
I think all of us felt that we were undertaking 
a dangerous business when we opposed him, 
and that we needed to be armed and equipped 
most completely, else our discomfiture would 
be certain, inevitable. He scrutinized closeU' 
all important bills, and whenever, as the result 
of such scrutiny, he became the assailant, the 
Senator who had charge of the bill so assailed 
needed to have all his wits about him if he 
would save his measure. 

Not a few of us have felt keenly wounds 
received in encounter with Mr. Plumb; but 
however sharply we may have differed with 
him, I think we have all felt that the warfare 
was honorable, and that in the thrust and parry 



43 
of debate the deceased Senator was a fair and 
oftentimes generous antagonist. He could not 
help being positive. His whole life, from boy- 
hood, had been active, earnest, and, whenever 
the need arose, belligerent. 

His colleague, in a eulogy which T have never 
seen surpassed here, and which seemed to me 
to be a model for such an occasion as this, has 
told us the most interesting story of that life, 
built up as it was by never-ceasing activity and 
effort. None of his successes were accidental; 
all his great triumphs were hardly earned. The 
people of a great vState loved and honored him 
and placed unqualified trust in him. The people 
of a greater nation were coming to know him 
and to properly estimate him, and he was at his 
best when death knocked at his door and would 
have entrance. Longer service here would have 
made his public life of still greater value, for 
he was -growing every day; but this was not 

to be. 

His social side was of the kind that makes 
it pleasant to recall. His attachments were 
strong, he loved to be with his friends, and in 



44 

every company where he was found he added 
to the sum of enjoyment. He was a liberal 
giver, and in the many drafts which I have 
known made upon his generosity I do not recall 
one which he did not honor, and those who 
knew him best will long remember the unpro- 
claimed charities which beflowered his pathway 
all through life. 

Our deceased colleague, Mr. President, wore 
himself out before his time. He hardly knew 
the meaning of the word rest. No man here 
put as many working hours into each day as 
he, and his work was always done at highest 
pressure. He had no idle moments. He was 
constantly investigating, reading, and thinking, 
and so it came about that, at an age when the 
best part of his life ought to have been before 
him, all the machinery of his being suddenl}- 
stopped ; it could run no longer. His work was 
done, although much is left to do in which he, 
as we look at it, ought to have a part. 

This great body has never too much of the 
earnestness, the assiduit}', the experience which 
Mr. Plumb furnished to its ser^dce. 



LofC. 



45 

The Senate, though it is beyond the constant 
fluctuations which are a feature of the other 
branch of the National Legislature, is yet a 
greatly shifting assembly. Mr. Plumb, at the 
time of his death, had been a Senator for almost 
fifteen years. There are l)Ut seven who have 
seen longer continuous service. They are Sen- 
ators Morrill, Sherman, Ransom, Allison, Jones 
of Nevada, Dawes, and Cockrell. Six others 
took seats in this Chamber at the same time 
with Mr. Plumi!. All the rest of us, .seventy- 
five in all, are, comparatively speaking, new 
Senators. 

Mr. President, the old landmarks here are 
disappearing. Death, withdrawal, the nnitation 
of politics, eat them away. Now an oak in the 
forest has fallen. Which of us, as we look at 
that seat which he held so long, does not, 
through memor^v's vista, behold that rugged 
front, that aggressive presence, that intrepid, 
ruthless combatant? And which of us, seeing 
that he is not there, does not feel that in his 
eclipse there has passed from sight a most 
conspicuous figure of the United States Senate? 



JAMFS G. BLAINE. 



In the Senate i>t' tbc United States. January 27, iSg^ 



I\Ir. President : We are again summoned 
into the presence of death. A very great man 
has passed from this earth. Hon. J.ames G. 
Blaixe died in his house in this city at 11 
o'clock this morning. His long illness had in 
some measure prepared us for this, but the 
dread eyent will carry .sadness and mourning 
throughout all the United vStates, and will 
awaken interest and sorrow whereyer ciyilized 
man liyes on the face of the globe. 

Mr. Bl.vixe'.s career was so remarkable and 
his public services were so great that in all the 
histories which may be written of his time he 
will stand as a central figure, not onh- as to his 
own country, but upon policies and subjects that 
affected other great nations. 



48 

He belonged, Tvlr. President, not to any State, 
but to all the country. Pennsylvania, which 
gave him birthplace and nurtured him, and 
Maine, where he made his home and where he 
became her first citizen and where his lap was 
filled with all the honors the State could bestow, 
mourn him no more to-day than the dwellers by 
the shores of the great Gulf and in the cabins 
of the far Sierras. 

It is no time or place for me to speak in detail 
of his distinguished public life. He was for years 
a leading member upon the floor of the House of 
Representatives, and for six years presided there 
as its Speaker. His service in this Chamber 
covered busy years. He was twice Secretary of 
State, and until of late a member of the present 
Administration. 

I do not think there is one Senator here who 
will not deem it fitting, in view of this, and that 
he died where his last eastward look from his 
chamber window might embrace this Capitol 
where his voice had been so many times heard, 
that we make a precedent at this time, if there 
is none already, and that, notwithstanding Mr. 



49 

Blaixe at the time of his death was a pri- 
vate citi/.en, this body take an immediate ad- 
joiiniment. 
4 

O 



'J 



